Charging artifact mitigation via scanning direction rotation

Abstract

Systems/techniques are provided for facilitating charging artifact mitigation via scanning direction rotation. In various embodiments, a system can access a charged-particle microscope that is loaded with a specimen. In various aspects, the system can generate an aggregated image of the specimen, based on a plurality of images of the specimen that are captured by the charged-particle microscope according to a target scanning direction and a plurality of rotated scanning directions. In some instances, the plurality of rotated scanning directions and the target scanning direction can be uniformly distributed within a 360-degree range. In various cases, the specimen can charge non-homogeneously during scanning, each of the plurality of images can exhibit respective charging artifacts, and the aggregated image can exhibit no or reduced charging artifacts.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system, comprising:
 a processor that executes computer-executable components stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory, wherein the computer-executable components comprise:
 an access component that accesses a charged-particle microscope that is loaded with a specimen; and 
 an aggregation component that generates an aggregated image of the specimen, based on a plurality of images of the specimen that are captured by the charged-particle microscope according to a target scanning direction and a plurality of rotated scanning directions. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of rotated scanning directions and the target scanning direction are uniformly distributed within a 360-degree range. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of rotated scanning directions and the target scanning direction collectively have an even cardinality, such that, for each first scanning direction, there is a second scanning direction that points 180 degrees away from the first scanning direction. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein a target image of the plurality of images is captured according to the target scanning direction and has a target field of view of the specimen, and wherein remaining images of the plurality of images have respectively resized fields of view that circumscribe the target field of view. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 4 , wherein the computer-executable components further comprise:
 an alignment component that respectively correctively rotates the plurality of images according to the plurality of rotated scanning directions, thereby yielding a plurality of aligned images that are aligned with the target field of view.   
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 5 , wherein the alignment component respectively applies drift-correction to the plurality of aligned images. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 6 , wherein the computer-executable components further comprise:
 a crop component that respectively crops, after drift-correction and out of the plurality of aligned images, any pixels or voxels that are not present in the target field of view, thereby yielding a plurality of cropped images each having the same size as the target image.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein the aggregation component averages the plurality of cropped images and the target image together, thereby yielding the aggregated image. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the specimen charges non-homogeneously during scanning, wherein each of the plurality of images exhibits respective charging artifacts, and wherein the aggregated image exhibits suppressed charging artifacts. 
     
     
         10 . A computer-implemented method, comprising:
 accessing, by a device operatively coupled to a processor, a charged-particle microscope that is loaded with a specimen; and   generating, by the device, an aggregated image of the specimen, based on a plurality of images of the specimen that are captured by the charged-particle microscope according to a target scanning direction and a plurality of rotated scanning directions.   
     
     
         11 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the plurality of rotated scanning directions and the target scanning direction are uniformly distributed within a 360-degree range. 
     
     
         12 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of rotated scanning directions and the target scanning direction collectively have an even cardinality, such that, for each first scanning direction, there is a second scanning direction that points 180 degrees away from the first scanning direction. 
     
     
         13 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein a target image of the plurality of images is captured according to the target scanning direction and has a target field of view of the specimen, and wherein remaining images of the plurality of images have respectively resized fields of view that circumscribe the target field of view. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 respectively correctively-rotating, by the device, the plurality of images according to the plurality of rotated scanning directions, thereby yielding a plurality of aligned images that are aligned with the target field of view.   
     
     
         15 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 respectively applying, by the device, drift-correction to the plurality of aligned images.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 respectively cropping, by the device and out of the plurality of aligned images, any pixels or voxels that are not present in the target field of view, thereby yielding a plurality of cropped images each having the same size as the target image.   
     
     
         17 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 averaging, by the device, the plurality of cropped images and the target image together, thereby yielding the aggregated image.   
     
     
         18 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 10 , wherein the specimen charges non-homogeneously during scanning, wherein each of the plurality of images exhibits respective charging artifacts, and wherein the aggregated image exhibits suppressed charging artifacts. 
     
     
         19 . A computer program product for facilitating charging artifact mitigation via scanning direction rotation, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable memory having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
 access a scanning electron microscope that is loaded with a specimen;   cause the scanning electron microscope to respectively capture a plurality of images of the specimen according to a target scanning direction and a plurality of rotated scanning directions, wherein the plurality of images exhibit respective charging artifacts;   correctively-rotate those of the plurality of images that are captured according to the plurality of rotated scanning directions, such that the plurality of images are aligned with the target scanning direction; and   average, after corrective-rotation, the plurality of images, thereby yielding an aggregated image of the specimen, wherein a visibility of charging artifacts in the aggregated image is lesser than respective visibilities of charging artifacts in the plurality of images.   
     
     
         20 . The computer program product of  claim 19 , wherein the target scanning direction and the plurality of rotated scanning directions are uniformly distributed within a 360-degree range.